The present invention relates to a cup holder, and particularly, to a cup holder which is disposed in, for example, a console box of an automobile, and holds an object, i.e. a container of beverage, such as a cup or can, not to fall.
As the aforementioned cup holder, various kinds of cup holders have been proposed already. For example, Japanese Utility Model Publication (KOKOKU) No. H3-12592 discloses a cup holder, wherein in case a holder portion is drawn from a housing for use, a holding member rotatably attached to the holder portion is rotated in the horizontal direction by an urging force of urging means, and stops at a neutral position of the urging means.
In case an object to be held is retained in the cup holder, an object, which is smaller than an inserting hole formed by the holder portion and the holding member where urging means is in the neutral position, can be inserted as it is, through the inserting hole and held thereat.
However, in case the object to be held is larger than the inserting hole in a condition that the urging member is in the neutral position, if, after the object to be held is inserted through the inserting hole while a distance between the holding member and the holder portion is expanded against the urging force of the urging means to be spaced apart from each other, the expanding force of the holder portion is released, the object can be held between the holding member and the holder portion.
Also, in the cup holder of the aforementioned Utility Model Publication, a supporting member for supporting the object to be held is rotatably attached to the holder portion. Generally, the supporting member is attached to a front end of an arm which is attached rotatably at a rear end to a lower side of the holder portion or a slider. When the holder portion or the slider is drawn from the housing to a using position, the front end of the arm is rotated to descend so as to allow the supporting member to horizontally descend.
In the conventional cup holder, since it is structured that the holding member is positioned in the neutral position by the urging member, such as a torsion spring, there was a difficulty such that upon attaching the holding member, the urging means is attached.
And, whenever an object with a size larger than that of the ordinary object is held, the holding member is required to be opened against the urging force of the urging means. Namely, since the holding member can not be maintained at the position for the large size object, the object can not be held by merely inserting the object into the inserting hole, so that it is difficult to use.
Furthermore, since the width of the supporting member is limited to a size entering into the opening of the housing, as described above, in case the holding member is opened against the urging force of the urging means to dispose a large object on the supporting member, a part of the bottom of the supported object exceeds the supporting member to become a condition that the object leans on the holding member. Thus, there is an inconvenience that the holder can not stably hold the object.
The invention has been made to obviate the above drawbacks, and an object of the invention is to provide a cup holder, in which a holding arm can be easily and simply attached.
Another object of the invention is to provide a cup holder as stated above, in which by changing a position of the holding arm to a first condition of use or a second condition of use, objects with different sizes can be held by simply inserting the same into the inserting holes.
A further object of the invention is to provide a cup holder as stated above, in which an entire bottom surface of a large object can be disposed on the supporting member.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.